Amplifying Change At Craft we believe in the power of business as a force for good. We help companies and organizations that share this belief communicate their story and grow their community.
04/07/2022
Great stuff happening at Portland Public Schools Food Services! Happy to be a small part of supporting their work re-imagining school meals and the role they play for students and the community.
Listened to a podcast recently with Brené Brown describing her B-R-A-V-I-N-G framework for how trust is built and cultivated. This feels so essential to creating meaningful relationships of all kinds, but especially in working relationships where much of this is not often the cultural norm. Boundaries, Non-judgement and Generosity really feel powerful to me. Which element speaks to you the most?
In the strange times we are in, my group coaching work has surprised the introvert in me and become such a source of connection and fulfillment. I have a round of my Communicating with Power group coming up mid April with two open spots. If you're looking for clarity in your marketing and outreach work and a safe space to land, I'd love to have you join us.
"Through her small group programs, Leah has created a unique learning space through which I received the expert guidance and collegial support I needed to jumpstart and propel our agency's communications strategy. I highly recommend participating in Leah's small group programs; your agency or business will benefit, as will you as a leader." -Patricia, Executive Director of a Maine-based nonprofit
Details below - DM or email [email protected] by April 6th to save your spot or learn more.
A Craft Mastermind: Driving ImpactCommunicating with PowerWhen you are COMMUNICATING WITH POWER you are boldly, unabashedly yourself. You feel grounded in your voice and the uniqueness you offer to the world. You are communicating the deep why behind your work rather than the surface level what, a...
03/17/2022
Looking for a dedicated place to work or grow your business? Beautiful offices available for rent in downtown Brunswick from the lovely New Approaches!
#growmaine #mindfulentrepreneurship
03/09/2022
New #StandWithUkraine film series from Points North Institute now streaming on Eventive: documentary films by Ukrainian directors that highlight the incredible artistry of a nation. 100% of the proceeds from this initiative will go to a special fund at Ukraine-based Docudays UA International Human Rights Documentary Festival. Details below.
We are honored to announce the #StandWithUkraine Film Series now streaming on Eventive: documentary films by Ukrainian directors that highlight the incredible artistry of a nation. 100% of the proceeds from this initiative will go to a special fund at Ukraine-based Docudays UA International Human Rights Documentary Festival Міжнародний фестиваль документального кіно про права людини Docudays UA. Donate to watch and support today at https://bit.ly/CIFF_Ukraine. Special thanks to our distribution partners for helping us pull this together: Filmotor Square Eyes The Cinema Guild Feelmakers Film Movement
Image Still: Maidan directed by Sergey Loznitsa (now streaming)
03/01/2022
Looking to dial in your core purpose and make your outreach and communication work more meaningful? 2 slots are left in my upcoming Mastermind: Communicating with Power.
We'll gather on zoom once/ month for 6 months, polishing up the building blocks of your communications strategy and supporting each other to boldly share our unique super powers with the world.
Last year we worked with Socha Financial Group, LLC through our #CommunicatingwithPower Mastermind and 1:1 support to develop language to communicate the unique value they create. It's such a joy to see the work coming to life and share their new website, https://sochafinancial.com.
Designed and built by Creagent Marketing, with design insight from India Brand, and lots and lots of sweat, love, and creativity from Nina, Jolie, Kelsey, Mike and the whole team at Socha Financial Group, LLC.
Define what financial balance looks like to you Take the first step Live the tomorrow you want to create Take the first step Confidently lean into the adventure of the unknown Take the first step Welcome Since 1983, Socha Financial Group, LLC has offered financial planning and investment management....
Doc filmmakers and storytellers: Camden International Film Festival is accepting submissions for documentary features, and works-in-progress for its #PointsNorth artist programs, and more: https://pointsnorthinstitute.org
NEWS & EVENTS THE LAUNCHING PAD FOR THE NEXT GENERATION OF NONFICTION STORYTELLERS
01/19/2022
As a woman officially in my 40s, I've been learning so much from new client Modern Midlife Reset, a branch of Koru Physical Therapy and Wellness, PLLC. Their signature program, #PeacefulPerimenopause is a counter-cultural reset to help us understand what's actually happening in our bodies and how we can work with it, not against it.
There's a session starting soon with a few days left to sign up. Check it out!
“We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. And whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. And you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the way God’s universe is made; this is the way it is structured.” - Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
11/22/2021
Looking to grow your business and dial in your communications strategies? The next round of our group coaching program for women and non-binary entrepreneurs is running January - June 2022: Communicating with Power.
One virtual meeting/ month and all the goodness of group accountability and support. Email or dm for more info and to hold your spot.
With these dark fall mornings, need a little more of this in my life!
Thank you Nutrition Simplified for the gentle nudges to support our bodies and minds that do so much for us every day.
Stoked to see client and zero-waste warrior Laura Marston of GoGo Refill honored with a Conservation Leadership Award from Natural Resources Council of Maine.
"Small business owner Laura Marston of South Portland will receive a Conservation Leadership Award for advocating for and pioneering new ways to reduce waste and encourage reuse through her business, throughout her community, and across Maine."
Tips for female founders from CEI Women's Business Center's Sarah Guerette and reflections of why women's leadership is so important right now:
"So many of the female founders we work with focus on a triple bottom line that includes social impact, environment benefit, and profitability. This tendency towards social entrepreneurship means that women are building business that nurture communities, families, employees, and our planet. We need more of this."
Beautiful essay from friend, collaborator and fellow Babson College alum Kristin Thalheimer Bingham of Dean'sSweets on the highs and lows of building a business with your life partner and learning a lot about each other in the process. A reminder to me of the richness that comes from our differences.
"While I work linearly, Dean works circularly, sometimes finding solutions to things by working on something else entirely. I like solutions; Dean likes problem solving."
So happy to see new interactive trail features from Hills to Sea Trail Coalition launching in time for the summer + fall seasons. It has been a joy supporting their messaging and storytelling work in partnership with Quimby Family Foundation, Adam Burk + Co, India Menninghaus, and Adept Creative. A beautiful trail for all seasons!
WALDO COUNTY — The Hills to Sea Trail Coalition recently launched a new website (hillstosea.org) that features detailed maps to improve locating and navigating sections of the 47-mile Unity-to-Belfast Hills to Sea Trail. The maps can be printed out...
07/02/2021
Heading into the holiday weekend, sending an invitation to be gentle and easy on ourselves when we don't have it all figured out or get it "right" every time. We are all doing our best, and need time to replenish, whatever that means to you. Wishing you moments of pause, connection and unbridled joy this weekend. If you need me, this is where I'll be!
Working with New Approaches during the pandemic has been one of the most supportive things I have done for myself. They have a new group launching next week, hosted by Hannah Curtis, focused on re-framing our often constant journey to feel "good enough" and "worthy". Spoiler alert, you are already good enough, deserving of love, joy and whatever success looks like to you. We all are.
If this speaks to you, check out the details below for more about this 6-week study group.
The Self-Worth Study Group Even people who have done therapy and otherwise been reflective and psychologically-minded find that feeling “good enough” and “worthy” remains elusive. You can use a lot of your precious energy with thoughts and actions trying to feel “good enough.” The goal o...
05/07/2021
The sun is shining here in southern Maine but wow does it feel like it has been one heck of a long year already. Grateful for these simple ways to take care of ourselves, thanks to Silver Speech for the find!
Looking for support and accountability to up-level your communications game? A new cohort of the Craft Mastermind: Communicating With Power launches May 13th and meets monthly through November.
In the words of a past participant: "I recommend it to anyone who wants to feel more empowered, positive, and effective in their messaging."
2 slots left - join us! Email Leah at [email protected] for more info or to hold your spot.
Great quick listen for a drive or walk - Brené Brown breaks down the basic of Armored vs Daring leadership. Grateful to work with partners and clients every day who are working to lead more and more in this way and inspire me to do the same.
It took me a long time to learn that self-care is not all bubble baths and long walks by the ocean and curling up with a good book. With Allie Andrews, OmBody Health's help, I've come to see that true self-care is loving and caring about ourselves enough to get curious, to learn what works for us, without judgement or expectation. It helps us to create a life full of meaning and presence and creativity. It's a journey I'm quite honestly still walking (probably always will be) and could not be more grateful for the wisdom, gentleness and joy in Allie's teachings.
Her new course The Self-Care Lifestyle launches next week and I whole-heatedly recommend it. Doors close tomorrow - check it out! courses.ombodyhealth.com/p/enroll
This is my life's work...
I poured my blood, sweat and tears into crafting this program.
I created it and first launched in 2020, when my biz like so many took a turn, but I've been dreaming it up for YEARS (lifetimes perhaps...)
And here's why I built it...
After a decade working in the wellness industry as a yoga teacher and health coach for companies (and going through my own 15+ year personal growth journey as a recovering perfectionist and overachiever)...
I noticed that SO MANY PEOPLE were filling their lives with "have tos" and "shoulds" without space for the deeper needs and desires that bring them joy and confidence.
And many womxn I came across were deriving their worth from what they accomplished rather than who they were at their core...self-critical when they weren't feeling positive or being productive. (This used to be me.)
I met many well-intentioned serial overcomitters, who would double down on work and caring for others at the expense of their health and joy.
Here's the thing...We need to take care of ourselves in order to care for others and live our most joyful life.
But for any of it to last, we need to care for ourselves in a way that feels authentic and nourishing for us...
Which is why I built the Self-Care Lifestyle. It's an 8-week reset guided by me over group coaching circles, self-care circles and self-paced learning modules.
It's highly curated sans prescriptive influencer routines. Instead, I teach you how to be receptive to your natural rhythms and experience presence and joy with a personalized and sustainable self-care practice.
This last year has been a real challenge to our resilience.
Yet now is an incredibly impactful time to reprioritize your health and wellbeing and come back to yourself. To root yourself in your confidence.
Feeling called? Learn more & join our community here >>bit.ly/ombody
Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Craft posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
At Craft we believe in the power of business as a force for good. We help entrepreneurs and organizations that share this belief cut through the clutter and find focus.
Craft is a boutique communications practice run by Leah Hurley since 2009 with a focus on value-driven marketing and social impact. At the core of her approach is a belief in the power of being boldly who you are. She helps clients get clear on what matters to them and build tools and strategies to share that with the world. She offers an outside lens and takes a proactive approach to communications and marketing, helping clients get ahead of content opportunities and build processes and systems that integrate communications thinking into the fabric of their business.
Join Craft this fall for a group coaching program for mission-driven female entrepreneurs, where you will work together to take your outward-facing communications to the next level.
Now more than ever, the world needs female leaders who are boldly, unabashedly themselves. Find clarity and focus in your voice and strategy.
You will meet virtually for 2 hours each month, October - March.
Email for the details and to hold your spot: [email protected]http://www.crafttomorrow.com/communicating-with-power.html
Little did we know when we started this project that we would need our outdoor spaces more than ever this year! A truly collaborative effort on the @teenstotrails brand rebirth. Thank you L.L.Bean Alicia Pulsifer Heyburn Adam Burk + Co Craft
What are your core beliefs? These are ours. #mindfulemployerus, #evolvethewayyouwork Craft
Take your business to the next level! We have some amazing women facilitating workshops with us next week.
Join us for Boss Your Money: Managing Your Budget for Small Business Success with Lynne Somerman Financial Coaching; and Making Impactful Marketing Decisions with Leah Hurley at Craft.
www.ceimaine.org/women for more information and to register.
Listen to the power of understanding your “why” with Leah Hurley from Craft
There is still time to register to join us for tomorrow's workshop with Craft! In this workshop, we'll dive into the "why" at the heart of your work, and create the foundation of a values-based messaging strategy.
Join us tomorrow for a new workshop with Craft and learn how to make the most of the time and money you spend on marketing!
There is still time to register for our brand new workshop tomorrow with Craft! Attendees will gain valuable tools to help ground your most important business and marketing decisions!
Tune in at 10am tomorrow on WCSH6 and WLBZ2 to see Stephany Lay with Maine-Tex Grilled Salsa and Amy Rowbottom with Crooked Face Creamery present their businesses in front of sponsor judge Yellow Light Breen with Maine Development Foundation and panelists Leah Hurley from Craft and Ebon Jose from Spinnaker Trust.
Taking a values-based approach to marketing helps potential customers understand why you do what you do, and how you hope to impact the world or community through that work. Please join us on 11/14 for a new workshop with Craft to learn the foundation of a values-based messaging strategy, and how this can be used as a tool to ground your marketing and business decisions!
Former CIFF producer and board member Leah Hurley (Craft) returned to the festival as an audience member and captured the magic perfectly for International Documentary Association: "We are here to learn more about ourselves and the worlds we have lived in and created. We're here to have the courage to tell the stories we're inspired to tell, to have faith in our voice, and to find ourselves in dark theaters before beautiful, soulful films."
Leah Hurley of Craft, reflects on her experience at Maine Live in this guest post on our blog.
"The vulnerability modeled for us in each presentation carried into conversations, connections, and laughter during the breaks and over lunch outside in the grass. Intentionally lengthy breaks encouraged interaction with strangers, friends and colleagues alike. We talked about how easy it is to overlook opportunities like this in our busy lives, but how so important the connection and sense of community is – for our own wellbeing and for the strength of the collective."
http://ed.gr/f4mk